From a young age, I have always been intrigued by Kuchisake Onna, the Slit-Mouthed Woman from Japanese folklore. Originally I didn’t know her name or that she originates from Japan. I’d always wondered what would have driven someone to slice their own cheeks to form a wide Glasgow smile, from ear to ear. The thought of it just baffles me. Her appearance, who she targets and her origins leads me to more questions and I just need to find the answers.

Who is Kuchisake Onna (The Slit-Mouthed Woman)?

Kuchisake Onna is more commonly known as the Slit-Mouthed Woman. She appears as a lady with her face covered with a surgical mask. You might think that a person wearing a surgical mask would throw up red flag in your head. However, this is not the case in Japan as people there wear surgical masks when they have a cold, flu or other illnesses. In this case, Kuchisake Onna uses the surgical mask to cover the enormous slit on her face. This slit forms a Glasgow smile, from ear to ear. She also carries a large pair of scissors with her.

She usually targets primary school children or college students. When she meets her victims she asks them shyly, “Watashi kirei?” which means “Am I beautiful?” If one says no, Kuchisake Onna will kill them immediately by stabbing them with her scissors, beheading them or slashing their faces with the scissors so that they resemble her. However, if one says yes, she removes her surgical mask, revealing a red, blood-stained mouth that is cut from ear to ear. She then asks them, “Kore demo?” which means “Even now?”

At that time, if her victim answers no or screams in terror, she slashes her victim’s mouth from ear to ear so that they will resemble her. If they lie and say yes for a second time, she walks away, following her victim back home, then slaughters them brutally at night.

Modern stories say that one cannot escape Kuchisake Onna as she is an extremely fast runner. She always catches up to those who run away and asks the same questions. However the way to escape her grasp is to chant “pomade, pomade, pomade”. Pomade is a type of scented hair gel, which she hates. Chanting this keeps her away. Alternatively, when she reveals her slit mouth, you answer her with a vague statement, such as “average” or “so so” which confuses her. While she is confused, you will have just enough time to escape successfully.

What Does She Look Like?

Kuchisake Onna is commonly depicted or reported to be a young woman in her 20s. She wears a crimson coat and has a surgical mask that covers half her face. With such a distinct look, you would think that it would be easy to identify her. However, there are thousands of women in Japan that have the exact same look. No one really know if a woman is Kuchisake Onna or not until she walks up to you and asks her first question, after which she reveals her bloody Glasgow smile.

True Monsters: The Legend of Kuchisake Onna

Origins of Kuchisake Onna

There are many different stories of how Kuchisake Onna came about, but the most convincing of these tales states that she was a young lady who lived hundreds of years ago as the wife or concubine of a samurai. She was extremely beautiful but very vain, and could often be found flirting with different men. She was later discovered to be cheating on her samurai husband who became jealous. Feeling cuckolded, he attacked her and slit her mouth from ear to ear, screaming, “Who will think you are beautiful now?”

Her vengeful spirit then became Kuchisake Onna. She is usually encountered in the evenings, when she asks unsuspecting children or men if she is beautiful. Legend has it that she is a spirit who targets young men to take vengeance for her disfigured face and her death. As for why she targets children, the legends are not clear on this.

What to Do If We See Kuchisake Onna?

Artist impression of Kuchisake Onna

If we come across Kuchisake Onna, we should remain calm and chant protective mantras such as Dukkar, Sengdongma or Dorje Shugden quietly. In this case we can also recite the mantra of Trakze, the wrathful manifestation of Dorje Shugden. With this, we call upon the protective blessings of the Buddhas, making Kuchisake Onna disappear.

If she does not disappear and asks you the questions, you should not give her a direct answer. By confusing her, you can create enough time to escape and find somewhere safe. You should remember to chant the mantras under your breath. The mantra of Trakze is OM BENZA WIKI BITANA RAKYA RAKYA HUNG or you can chant any protective mantra that you are familiar with and connected to.

The most effective method however, is to protect yourself from encountering her by engaging in daily prayers. This will protect you from attacks by paranormal entities and also aid you in your spiritual path. What we should remember is that if we do come into contact with these beings, we are not to engage with them, so that we do not create a connection with them.

When Did She First Appear?

Records of Kuchisake Onna’s attacks date back to the 1970s, when she was seen hunting children. At that time children would often walk in groups, guided by their teachers to avoid her attacks.

Kuchisake Onna terrorising children

In 2007, a coroner’s report was found detailing the story of a woman in the late 1970s. She was reportedly chasing little children when she was hit by a car and died shortly thereafter. Her mouth was ripped from ear to ear. Some say that this is actually the person responsible for chasing and killing innocent children, as detailed in earlier records. However reports of her still continue today and have spread to Korea and even China as well.

Conclusion

I wanted to share with you a little about who Kuchisake Onna is but most importantly, I wanted to share with you how to escape her deadly grasp should you have the misfortune of encountering her. It is best not to connect with her in any way and run away from her when you have the chance.

Personally, I believe that the entity known as Kuchisake Onna is real and she should not be taken lightly. If she is simply an urban legend like some people claim, it does not make sense that reports of her attacks occur not only in Japan but in other countries around the world. Kuchisake Onna being a worldwide phenomena makes me think that she is definitely real.

Note: All articles published on the blog are conceptualised, approved and edited by H.E. the 25th Tsem Rinpoche. For further assistance and any urgent enquiries, please write in to mail@tsemladrang.com.

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Looking at the sightings of Kuchisake-Onna, it appears that what started out as a Japanese folklore cautionary tale against infidelity has apparently crossed over into the realm of urban legend with some possible basis in fact in light of the creepy turn of events in the 1970s, when it was linked to an alleged female serial killer of innocent children who eerily died with her mouth ripped from ear-to-ear after she was hit by a car. What is clear is that her return as a vengeful spirit stems from her strong grasping mind and attachments as well as her wrong views which obviously resulted in her prolonged continued suffering. Thus, it is vital that we work on lessening, if not eliminating, our delusions and attachments lest we end up similarly perpetuating our suffering. In addition, considering that Kuchisake-Onna is not exclusive to Japan and there are reported sightings in other places, (e.g. such as in Korea of a purported woman in a blood red mask hunting for children), it is definitely good to know of ways to escape her. Thank you for an interesting article.

It makes sense that that could be the ghost of someone hit by a car. However the Thais who have many ghost legends themselves, also have a being in their folklore who has a similar affliction. In the Philippines, I believe there is also a traditional ghost that similar to her.
You may be interested in the Filipino creature known as the “Aswang”
In Thailand, there is the “Krasue” (difficult to write in English letters) which is a head which floats around in the air with no body, but only the digestive system (stomach and intestines) hanging down. It has been seen all over Thailand by MANY people for hundreds of years now.

I have always been very interested in paranormal things, especially about spirits. I find them extraordinary in many ways such as, why are they invincible to naked eyes but are sometimes seen in pictures and videos, why are we not able to touch many of them can, why are do we get chills down our spine or the temperature unnaturally drops when they are around, and the list goes on and on.

This is a very interesting topic, and I have heard about Kuchhisake Onna’s story quite a couple of times (amazing that her story is even spread as far as to Malaysia) but never her real name. I definitely believe that she exists because while reading about her, I could actually feel chills going down my back. The only other stories that got me so badly was Zozo and the Black-Eyed Child.

The story of where she originally came about was slightly unreal though, mainly because why would she target children and young adults? And also why would she only appear in the 70s when she had been dead for centuries? Honestly, I would not want to meet her under any circumstances. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you Vinnie for sharing the story. Every spirit that exists, must have their reason behind. As far as I understand, grasping on the 3 poison, attachment, anger & ignorance, will lead the person to become spirit. In Kuchisake Onna’s case, it’s because he attachment to her beauty, her anger to her murder, that’s why she became a vengeful spirit after she died. Can you imagine how heavy her karma is? She has to stay like this for hundred over years, until her exhaust. Plus, she keeps hurting people like this, it’ll make her negative karma heavier. Pity her don’t know long more she needs to stay like this.

Kuchisake Onna, the horrible vengeful spirit is a being who is to be pitied as well. We learn from her story(whatever her origin), that it is important that we break our deeply habituated delusions of anger,hate,jealousy and craving .All of these delusions stem from our grasping at a “self” which is non-inherently existing. Train and transform our minds to let go of negative projections and expectations and develop positive attitudes of patience,non-judgement, acceptance and tolerance, kindness and care.

If Kuchisake Onna had not been so strongly attached to her “beauty”.(We see this attachment in the first question she asks everyone of her victims) and her mind had not been so deeply habituated with anger and hatred , she would not have become a vengeful spirit. Being still so strongly attached to her delusions, she will continue to destroy and kill and collect more heavy negative karma.

Yes, our best protection against spirit harm and black magic is by taking refuge in the Three Jewels and by realising the Dharma in us through transforming our minds. It is seen in the Lamrim and in Rinpoche’s teachings, that developing a mind of Refuge and of great Compassion will protect us all the way.

The story of Kuchisake Onna may seems scary, but it represented a poor being who is too attached to its beauty that her mind got twisted after losing its beauty and turn to harming others as a way of revenge. If she does exist, I hope the mantra of Dorje Shugden will bless her and het her out of suffering.

Read through kuchisake Onna tragic story, make me think when we alive, we need to learn how to forgive people who hurting and harm us.The most important to let go our attachment and vengeful thought all the time. kuchisake Onna death to reborn as the spirit because her attachment and vengeful thought are very strong, she keep appear over few century looking for the victim to harm others. These is the classic example spirit story whose had die in horrible way.Beside Dorje Shugden and others protector practice, we can engage eight verses of mind transmission. Train our mind from negative thought transform to positive all the time. Dharma is the best antidote to overcome our ignorance.

I have read before about Kuchisake Onna when I was a child, it was said that Kuchisake Onna was a very beautiful girl, she was in the surgical room to undergo a surgery, and during the surgery, there is some accident and the doctor accidentally cut her mouth till the ear, she was very angry and she killed the doctor and the nurses in that surgery room, and since then, she went around and keep asking whether she is beautiful, when the answer is not what she want, she will kill that person.

Reading this article makes me reflecting about myself and the people around me, we all have a Kuchisake Onna inside us. When we look around us, or maybe within us, when we ask someone for opinion, what we really want to hear, when we are doing something, what do we expect for other’s reaction, when people does not agree with us, when we don’t get what we want to hear or when others oppose our way of doing things, we will hold the anger and for some, they even try to get them and bring them into trouble. So are we different than Kuchisake Onna? Nope, we are actually the same in this sense, apply Dharma in our life, learn to forgive, accept and let go, this is the only path for us to find our happiness. Seriously, Hatred will pull us down, hatred brings us unhappiness, lead us to bitterness and create more tragedy in our life, so why do we want hatred and suffer so much pain? Kuchisake Onna’s life is definitely a tragedy, if she can learn to let go and forgive, she will definitely be much happier and have a better life instead of now going around hunting people.

Because children have higheer tendency of not lying? Because she wish to find an individual who would really find her beautiful regardless of her appearance, just like the love tale, “The frog and the Princess”

“She usually targets primary school children or college students. When she meets her victims she asks them shyly, “Watashi kirei?” which means “Am I beautiful?” If one says no, Kuchisake Onna will kill them immediately by stabbing them with her scissors, beheading them or slashing their faces with the scissors so that they resemble her. However, if one says yes, she removes her surgical mask, revealing a red, blood-stained mouth that is cut from ear to ear. She then asks them, “Kore demo?” which means “Even now?”

We should release ourselves from anger, jealousy, pride and ego, all these elements are leading us to sufferings. Etc., Kuchisake Onna, she holds on her anger and ego,hence she do not able to take rebirth and has to be a spirit.

I watched the movie just now and I find it very interesting. It seems that in most of the horror movies, the spirits cannot ‘die’ and they will always return to haunt again. And the part in the movie where the person will always cough before it is possessed and during, makes me wonder why. The hatred that the spirit shows is kind of pitiful. To be trapped and suffering in that state.

As for us, we are blessed to have mantras help us and help them at the same time. It would be super scary to be stuck in such a situation and not knowing the solution.

I believed Kuchisake Onna is trapped in her realm and behaving this way due to her anger when she died. The victims would be those who had karma connection with her in the past. No matter what we do not want our children to be the victims. I agreed with Vinnie that chanting Dorje Shugden Traksey mantra is powerful. This mantra not only can protect us at the same time we collect merits just by chanting He’s mantra. We should always stay connect with our Dharma protector. But we should not pray only when we have problems or in trouble. It does not work this way. Doing our prayer everyday keep us connect with our Dharma protector so that we are protected all the time not only from spirits but saved us from obstacles too. we can start with just 108 mantras a day.

This tragic story of a young woman is an example of how things can go from bad to worse. It has escalated into extreme pain and suffering. It is important to know Dharma and apply the antidote. The mantra of Dorje Shugden is very helpful and we should never engage with such beings.

This article show us another type of spirits that full of anger. When one died with negative thought it will bring us to a negative path and Kuchisake Onna is one of the example. This also tell us that if there is spirit, there is rebirth and there is definitely karma which determine where we take rebirth after we died.

Frankly speak I’m not sure whether Kuchisake Onna exist but I do belief spirit exist and if our karma open to experience them we should definitely need to know some way to protect ourselves just like what mentioned in this article.

What important is not really find out whether this type of spirit is real but to learn up the dharma to protect our body, speech and mind. Through dharma we can understand the nature of life and the practice of right conduct to protect us from all harm that actually created by ourselves and eventually liberate ourselves from all the suffering.

This is the first time I read about this being Kuchisake-onna as I am not a big fan horror or paranormal movie. I thought she is just a character in a movie but after finish reading the article, I found that it’s real that we could have chance to meet her.

However, I feel sorry for her for trapping in this appearance and such hatred. If the ability of killing human is true, she is still collecting a lot of bad karma from the vengeful action, which will not help her to ease her sufferings. I really wish she can get out of this endless suffering cycle. Om Mani Padme Hum _/\_

Interesting story. I believe supernatural beings exist, good or bad, to benefit or to harm. These divine or malevolent entities are around us, just because we cannot see, hear, feel or communicate with them does not mean they are not there. They exist in their realm just like we humans exist in ours, and we cross each other’s path so often. Every religion has its own method of dispelling negative energies if one were to harmed under unfortunate circumstances. We in Kechara are very fortunate to be in the mandala of H.E. Tsem Rinpoche, with protection from the dharma protector Dorje Shugden, who is the emanation of Manjushri, the bodhisattva of infinite Wisdom.

There is usually some truth to most folklores, urban legends and tales of the past. Most fiction books and movies are based on some truth as well. So it’s would not be surprising if Kuchisake Onna is real spirit. However some of the stories may have been exaggerated.

It is common for spirits to be attached to a specific location, meaning a spirit that haunts a specific house usually only haunts that house and you would not find that same spirit in another country. I wonder if they are copycats in the spirit realm. For example this spirit become so popular it become widely spread all over Japan and not localized anymore but the original one is actually still where it was first encountered.

Or maybe this spirit is not one spirit but a “species” from a specific realm/dimension. That certain karmic condition specially related to vanity can result in one being born as this species in that specific realm. This can perhaps explain the multiple versions of origins and tales related to Kuchisake Onna from all over the place.

I feel that the story of Kuchisake Onna is a classic example of someone who does not apply dharma knowledge in her life. She would not be unfaithful towards her husband or hold on to vengeful feelings for so long if she had known Buddha Dharma. We must be compassionate towards being like her as she must be suffering unspeakable torment. She has no way out and every action that she does tantamount to very negative karma for her. May her suffering ends and she takes rebirth where she can learn Buddha Dharma. Thank you Vinnie for sharing her story with us.

My name is Tsem Rinpoche and I am a Buddhist monk and teacher. I have a wide range of interests just like anyone else. Ever since I was a young child growing up in America, I have had a huge interest in the paranormal. I have always loved this subject. I love all things magical and mysterious – Tibet, Bigfoot, Loch Ness, Findhorn, UFO, Nazca lines, Spirits, Salem, Easter Island, Dowsing, Greek Gods, Hindu Gods, Yogis, Himalayas, Shambala, Aura, Divinations, Delphic Oracles, Tibetan Oracles, Nature Spirits, Pan, Shamans and more.

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